# Track your Planning Portal applications through an API

> Read My planning applications, each application's status and its PP reference from the Planning Portal with one API call. Or have a workflow check each weekday morning which applications are still Payment pending and which the LPA has received.

Page: https://fous.com/automate/planning-portal
Updated: 2026-11-12

Works with your own Planning Portal account. Fous is an independent product.

## What you can build on the Planning Portal

### List my planning applications

Reads My planning applications, filtered by status, local planning authority, date or application type, with each application's PP reference.

- Takes: Status (optional), LPA (optional), created since (optional)
- Returns: Application name, PP reference, application type, LPA, status, date

### Check one application's status

Opens one application's overview from My planning applications and reads where it stands, from draft to Received by LPA.

- Takes: PP reference or application name
- Returns: Application name, PP reference, application type, LPA, status, location

### Check the fee for a draft application

Opens a draft application's Calculate fee section and reads the planning fee, plus the Planning Portal service charge that applies to fees over £100.

- Takes: Application name
- Returns: Application name, application type, LPA, planning fee, service charge, total

### Upload a document to a draft application

Opens a draft application, goes to Upload plans and documents, attaches a file and saves it.

- Takes: Application name, file
- Returns: Application name, file names of the attached documents

## Automate the Planning Portal with a workflow

A [workflow](/product/workflows) runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

### Applications newly received by the LPA

Starts: Every weekday at 8:00

1. List your planning applications with status Received by LPA.
2. Keep the ones that were not Received by LPA on the last run.
3. Email you each one with its PP reference, name, LPA and application type.

### Applications still Payment pending, sent to finance

Starts: Every weekday at 10:00

1. List your planning applications with status Payment pending.
2. Stop when there are none.
3. Post each one's name, PP reference, LPA, application type and date to your finance system's webhook.

### Weekly applications report by local authority

Starts: Every Monday at 7:00

1. List your planning applications dated in the last 7 days.
2. Group them by local planning authority and status with an AI step.
3. Email you the report.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

## Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a [method](/product/methods), it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “List my planning applications” would look like.

Example request:

```
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "planningportal.co.uk/list_planning_applications",
    "input": {
      "status": "Payment pending"
    }
  }'
```

Example response:

```
{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "applications": [
      {
        "name": "Unit 4, Northwind Business Park, extension",
        "reference": "PP-10482736",
        "application_type": "Full planning permission",
        "lpa": "Leeds City Council",
        "status": "Payment pending",
        "date": "2026-11-10"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}
```

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

## The Planning Portal’s own options

The Planning Portal's documented API passes application data from the Portal to local planning authorities' back-office systems. Its help pages describe no API for applicants or agents: you create, pay for and follow applications in the web service, where you can download a full copy of each submitted application.

| Option | What it covers | What it takes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Back-office integration for LPAs | Sends submitted applications and supporting files to the LPA's system. The data flows one way, from the Portal to the LPA. | For local planning authorities and their software suppliers, not for applicants or agents. |
| The Planning Portal by hand | My planning applications, filtered by status, LPA, date or type, and a download of each submitted application from Application Actions. | An account. A service charge of £99 or £149 inc VAT on applications with a fee over £100. |

Read on November 12, 2026: [Working with LPAs and their IT suppliers](https://www.planningportal.co.uk/local-authority-bulletins/we-want-to-work-with-local-planning-authorities-and-their-it-suppliers-to-improve-planning-software/), [Creating a new application](https://www.planningportal.co.uk/services/help/making-an-online-application/creating-a-new-application), [What is the payment service?](https://www.planningportal.co.uk/services/help/faq/applications/planning-applications/what-is-the-payment-service).

## Signing in to the Planning Portal

The Planning Portal signs you in with your registered email address and a password, from Log in at the top right. One account covers planning and building control applications. With Fous you sign in once through the Planning Portal's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, and an expired session is signed back in.

## Worth knowing

- **Payment decides when the LPA gets it**: After Pay and Submit an application stays Payment pending until the payment has cleared, then moves to Submitted to LPA. It becomes Received by LPA once the authority downloads it.
- **The confirmation email is not acceptance**: The Portal's email with the PP reference does not mean the LPA has accepted the application. The LPA registers and validates it on its own timescales and contacts you directly.
- **Nominated payers need the PP reference**: With Nominate, the person paying gets a payment request by email and a reminder every 14 days. The payment must use the reference beginning PP, or it cannot be matched.
- **Building control cannot be amended**: A transferred planning application can be changed with Amend Application and submitted again. A building control application cannot be amended after it is submitted.

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## Frequently asked questions

### Does the Planning Portal have an API?

Not for applicants and agents, as far as its help pages show. Its documented API sends application data from the Portal to local planning authorities' back-office systems. You follow your own applications in My planning applications and can download a copy of each submitted one.

### Why is my application still showing Payment pending after I paid?

Because it stays Payment pending until the Planning Portal has received and cleared the payment. Then it moves to Submitted to LPA, and to Received by LPA once the authority has downloaded it. The Portal recommends paying online or by bank transfer as the quickest methods.

### How do I see whether the council has validated my application?

Ask the local planning authority, quoting your PP reference. Received by LPA means the authority has downloaded the application; it then registers and validates it on its own timescales and contacts you directly if it needs more information.

### Can I export my submitted applications?

Yes, as a full copy of each submitted application. In Applications, tick Submitted or Transferred, open the application and use Application Actions to download it. Draft forms can be printed too, with a DRAFT watermark and no declaration.

### Is Fous affiliated with PortalPlanQuest?

No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own Planning Portal account, and a method reads and does only what that account can.

Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of Planning Portal (PortalPlanQuest Limited (TerraQuest Solutions and MHCLG)). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.